


It Can be Beautiful...

by Jrosethegreat



Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Basically the majority of the cast, Bullying, Fluff, Gun Violence, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Smut, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Notes, THERE WILL BE TRIGGERS, Underage Drinking, Underage because Eren is 17 and Levi is 18, You Have Been Warned, all the things you want in a fanfiction, and I MEAN SLIGHT, it's based on Heathers folks, rating may go up later, slight yandere levi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-09 19:20:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11111163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jrosethegreat/pseuds/Jrosethegreat
Summary: Eren couldn't understand nor figure how and why everyone turned horrible in high school. The same kid you used to trade your lunches with is now sticking your head down the toilet. It's a dog eat dog world ruled by the Three, top dogs who keep the student body under their yoke of hierarchical ridicule and holier-than-thou status. Eren, armed with only his journal, is sick of keeping his head down in silence but finds himself swept into a downward spiral of popularity, quickly learning that being 'liked' means sacrificing everything that makes you wonderful. Until a mysterious new student comes along with the potential to make Eren's world beautiful... or deadly. A re-telling of the 'Heathers' story featuring the cast of Attack on Titan.





	1. Dear Diary

_Dear Diary,_  
_That’s… usually how you start these things right? I’m only doing this because Hanji said this would help channel my feelings or some shit. Oh, they’re my counselor at school by the way… not too sure whether they are a man or a woman? Every time anyone asks they just sort of smile this creepy as fuck way and don’t say anything. But, they’re really cool and actually give a shit about us despite their eccentricities. Doesn’t mean they’re always right though..._  
_Anyways, back to why I’m starting this thing. ‘Kas agrees that this will help, though I’m pretty sure she’s just fed up of having to pull me out of fights at school. Look, those assholes are the one’s who start it every damn time! I can’t stand by and watch innocent people get tormented for no fucking reason other than their sick need to have power over the whole student body. Seriously, it’s like fricken ‘No Man’s Land’ every day and the weekend is the Christmas Armistice of 1914. Yes, I’m history geek shut up. I couldn’t tell you who the worst culprits are. Actually, yes I can; the Big Three of Trost High- Reiner Braun is the leader, followed by Bertholt Hoover. Annie Leonhart is quiet, but she’s always with the other two. Those three have Trost under their beck and call and it pisses me off. Why? Because it lets dickheads like Jean pick on helpless teens without fail followed by his not-boyfriend Marco. Honestly, my gay-dar goes beserk around those two football jerkoffs. Yeah, I’m gay, moving on._  
_Worst part about Jean is that he picks on Armin more than what is humanly possible- and for some fucked up reason, Armin will not let go of his crush on him from like, kindergarten or something? At least then Jean was actually tolerable, I only fought with him because we were competitive. Now he’s just… awful. Everyone, is just fucking awful now. I’m sick and tired of seeing kids I grew up with ruining their lives before they even graduate, seeing friends turn into enemies behind their backs and the teachers don’t do shit about it! Well, except for Hanji and vice-principal Smith, he tries his best. Not to mention, the guy’s built like a fucking wall and scares the shit out of anyone with just one calm smile. He’s pretty easy on the eyes too, but I’m just saying that because it’s a casual observation. The guy’s married with kids, plus ew?_  
_Wow, I actually ended up writing a lot in this thing… maybe this won’t be a shitty waste of time. Who knows really. I’ll just, end it for now and see how this goes. Mainly, I just want to get through my year of school in one piece and move to a place where I can not worry about getting killed for liking dick. Somewhere far, far away from Shinganshina. Maybe meet a guy… yeah, as if. It’s a beautiful thought at least._  
_Till… whenever,_  
_Eren_

Sighing heavily, the green-eyed teen shut the brand new, shiny notebook that his step-sister bought for him. Mikasa even dipped into her allowance to get one in green leather with a fastener, and no matter how hard Eren begged her she refused to return it for a cheaper one. He knew what he was like with nice things, he’d feel awful if he accidentally wrecked the present she got for him. As if by divine providence, his mom called him to come downstairs for dinner (his favorite; roast beef) and he carefully placed his new journal under his mattress for safekeeping. Mikasa would probably want to read it, so he hid in in the one place she dared not touch for fear of reaching his secret ‘stash’ of ‘hot literature’ as he called it. He would never risk saying the word ‘porn’ when his mom’s super freaky super mom hearing could pick it up. After washing his hands, Eren came downstairs casually and sat at the table next to his mom who smiled at him softly.  
“How’s your eye doing?” she asked, of course referring to the fading black eye he got the last time he grappled with Jean, which was about two days ago now.  
“Healing, doesn’t even hurt.” Eren replied, shrugging. It was true, he had always been a quick healer.  
“Did you wash your hands Eren?” Mikasa piped up from behind him, walking to the table and taking a seat on the other side of Eren.  
“Yes ‘Kas, do you want to smell them to check?” he asked sarcastically, holding his hands up to her face which were promptly smacked away.  
“Eren please. You can start eating kids, your father will be here shortly. Emergency at the hospital.” Eren’s father was a successful surgeon who often worked late or took on emergencies. When he was younger, Eren used to resent his father being away so much. That is until he ended up saving his mom Carla’s life after she was caught up in a car accident, the same one that took both of Mikasa’s birth parents. A drunk driver t-boned the Ackerman’s car and sent it flying into Carla who had been walking home from her shift at the retirement home. It was a tragic circumstance that landed Eren with a younger step-sister. Mikasa was always telling Eren that he helped her find purpose again despite his modest excuses, but he loved her dearly. Even when she got suffocatingly over-protective at times and saved his ass from one too many fights more times than he’d care to admit.  
“Hopefully he won’t be out too late.” Mikasa mused, poking at her steamed carrots before eating one.  
“He’ll be fine, at least he called right?” Eren said, tearing into his meat. Carla sighed, reaching over to ruffle his already unruly brunet hair. “Hey! What gives?”  
“Nothing. Eat your greens Eren.” he raised a brow at his mom’s strange comment but nodded- after almost losing her, he did his best to not talk back so much. The rest of dinner was passed in silence, until Grisha came home midway through, taking a plate Carla set aside for him while talking about his day. Afterwards, Mikasa helped his mom clean up while he went back upstairs to his room. Just before he got in, Grisha called out for him.  
“Eren, can I have a word?”  
“Relax old man, I didn’t get my ass handed to me today and my eye feels fine.” Eren sighed.  
“Language. Anyways, that isn’t what I was going to ask. Your mother and I have been hearing some interesting things about you these past few days, and we wanted to know, is there anything you’d like to tell us?” a cold line of dread passed through Eren at the question. Shit, did his parents know? But how?! The only two people on this earth who knew about his sexuality were Mikasa and Armin! Neither of them would have let slip. Eren could feel the tips of his ears go red but he tried his best to appear nonchalant.  
“No? People in this town are shitty gossipers, don’t listen to what they have to say. If I have something I’d tell ya, promise?” in reality he had no idea if he would ever tell his parents, Grisha was a serious man with a bit of an old-fashioned sensibility. Carla would understand maybe but… Eren didn’t want to risk it. Grisha raised a brow at Eren’s use of language but sighed, letting the matter pass.  
“Alright, get to bed son. School night you know.”  
“I know. Night dad.” With that Eren slipped into his room and proceeded to faceflop on to his bed. That was too close. Instead of dwelling on the possibility that his dad found out that he wasn’t into girls, Eren lulled himself to sleep thinking of new battle strategies to get past Monday tomorrow. Not that it mattered either way, every ‘plan’ of his went out the proverbial (and sometimes literal) window the moment he walked through the double doors of Trost High. The best that he could do was be there for Armin, get the grades, then get the fuck out of there.  
Life was just ugly like that. He doubted it would get any different until he graduated.


	2. Karma

Sometimes, Eren really wished that his dad wasn’t the best surgeon in town. At least then he could actually get away with pretending to be sick to get out of going to school. Morning was hell, not only did his alarm not go off but he ended up being a full ten minutes late to class trying to find the sweater he needed before going outside. For some odd reason, Mikasa had it in her room because a button was about to fall off (which is so wasn’t!) and so, Eren ended up walking to school. At least his first class in the morning was with Mr. Zacharias’s class who taught English Lit. He was usually pretty chill about tardiness as long as you didn’t give some bullshit excuse. The man could literally smell the lies coming off of you, it was kind of creepy.  
Armin sat next to him and quickly helped him catch up on what he missed, though Eren couldn’t help but notice that his bright blue sweater had a tear in the shoulder. Armin never went out in public looking less than immaculate in his hand-me downs, usually because most of his clothes used to belong to his grandfather.  
“Ar, what happened to your shoulder?” Eren asked suspiciously, his overactive mind already thinking up of the most possible scenarios- namely Jean and/or Marco.  
“Oh, this?” Armin replied, as if he didn’t notice it there, “Marco bumped into me-” _bingo_ “I guess it must have caught on something.” Eren almost wanted to grimace at Armin’s social obliviousness. For being a near genius in school, his best friend could be so dense sometimes! Armin was either a precious cinnamon roll or an evil genius in the making- there was no in between.  
“Fucking Bott, dammit Armin why do you let him walk all over you like this?”  
“I don’t! I just don’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble.”  
“Ar, they are the ones causing trouble and we’re the ones who get screwed over-”  
“Jeager, Alert, something you want to say say it.” Mr. Zacharias called out, cutting off Eren’s tirade. Armin squeaked and looked down as a series of snickers came around from the class while Eren’s ears burned red.  
“No sir, sorry…” Zacharias merely sniffed in response before going back to the board. The rest of the class was spent with Eren taking notes about the chapter of Moby Dick he didn’t read before the bell rang. Great, fucking chemistry next… At least the teacher Mr. Berner was okay. Naturally, in the way things worked out, just as he was heading out the door a hand came out of nowhere to push against his back and suddenly Eren was met with a face full of ugly floor tiles.  
“Move it nerds!” and there was that horrible voice of Jean fucking Keirsten that Eren so wanted to not hear. Armin quickly helped him up but kept firm grip on his arm- you know, just in case Eren decided to punch Jean’s lights out. Again. Said person was currently laughing at something with Marco, a tall dark-haired boy with freckles that made Jean’s two-toned hair look even stranger by comparison. How the fuck did he manage to get away with being top of the high school food chain looking like he should be eating from an oats barrel?  
“Hey, Secretariat! You got to wait for the gate to open first jackass!” Eren shouted at the football player. Armin was trying to shush him and pull him away but it was too late, the damage was done. Jean whirled around to face Eren and was about to charge had it not been for Marco holding him back.  
“Watch it you suicidal bastard, wouldn’t want to make your boyfriend cry at your funeral!”  
“Shut your fucking face Keirsten-!”  
“Eren! Come on, we’re going to be late.” Armin begged, finally dragging Eren away from what would certainly be another fight had it continued. Eren continued to glower at Jean over his shoulder, ignoring further comments the horseface had to spew in favor of sticking with Armin. Not that he enjoyed it but he did promise more fights.  
“Fucking, self-righteous, horse faced asshole.” Eren grumbled, pulling his arm out of Armin’s grasp and shoving them into his pockets. Armin merely sighed in response and went off to go to his Advanced Calculus class across the hall from Eren’s next class, waving at him as he disappeared inside. Eren was just about to go into his class when he heard a slight commotion going on from around the corner, and his curiosity got the better of him.  
“Guys, we’re so screwed.”  
“Relax, the worst we’ll get is detention.” Eren definitely recognized that voice, if only for the fact that no one heard it so often; Annie. Which meant…  
“You’re fucking kidding me right now! My dad, will literally have my hide if he finds out I got detention _again._ ” From around the corner, Eren watched the ‘Three’ huddle around each other with obvious panic on their faces… well, except for Annie but he could see it in her eyes. For whatever reason Eren didn't care about, they were condemned to spend the next hour in Shadis’s classroom, aka Hell. Looking back on it, Eren couldn’t tell you what possessed him to whip out his notebook and write a fake note from principal Zackely that would get them out of detention.  
See, Eren had this special ‘talent’ he stumbled upon accidentally when he was younger; the ability to perfectly forge anyone else’s handwriting. It happened before the accident, when he impulsively wrote a note from his ‘father’ explaining to Carla that he was going to be home late. His mother never suspected a thing, even though Grisha had been surprised that his wife wasn’t as angry at him that time. Nowadays he used this ‘talent’ as a party trick to impress his small group of friends, but he needed some good karma in his life right about now. Even if it was by helping the Three out… that makes the karma better, helping someone you hate… right?  
“Here,” he grumbled, neatly tearing the note out and handing it to Annie, “give this to Shadis and you’ll be clear.” The Three looked at him with shock, whether it was for his good deed or more likely for the fact that Eren Jeager the Dork dared to speak to and approach them he didn’t give a fuck. Without a word, he just tucked his notebook away and went into chem class just before the tardy bell rang. He wasn’t totally certain the note would work, he had only seen Zackely’s handwriting a couple times whenever he sent a handwritten (who the fuck still does that?) letter to his parents concerning his fights. Oh well, not his problem.

 

“Eren!” said boy whipped around as Armin ran up to him where he sat in their usual secluded corner at lunch. He looked up at his friend with his mouth full of baloney sandwich, brow raised.  
“‘Oo dyd?” he asked through a full mouth, which roughly translated to ‘who died?’ considering Armin's hurry.  
“The whole school is buzzing about it! How have you not heard it?” Armin asked as he quickly sat down, leaning in close. Now Eren was even more confused as he swallowed his sandwich bite.  
“Heard what?”  
“You got the Three out of detention?!” Oh right, that.  
“So it worked. Go figure.” Eren shrugged, trying to go back to eating his sandwich until a group of students approached them. Great, what now?  
“You’re Eren right? The doctor’s kid?” a short kid with buzzed hair stood next to a girl with brunette hair tied back into a ponytail… who was eyeballing the other uneaten half of his sandwich as if it were the last edible thing on earth.  
“Yeah… Connie and, Sasha right? What do you want?” he asked, looking between the two as he slowly pulled his lunch closer to himself before Sasha pounced it. He had heard of the girls insatiable appetite and wished to spare his sandwich from her carnage.  
“How the hell did you do it?” Connie asked, sitting down opposite him and Armin with enraptured interest. Okay, this was getting bizarre.  
“I just wrote a note and made it look like it was from Zackley. No biggie.” Connie and Sasha blinked owlishly at him in disbelief while Eren took another bite of his sandwich.  
“No biggie? Shit kid, where were you when I needed a hall pass last week?” Everyone turned around to see two juniors, Ymir and her girlfriend Historia ‘Krista’ Reiss, approach the table. They had the rep of being the only openly homosexual couple in school and managed to survive due to the fact Ymir’s dad was chief of police and Krista’s older sister was deputy mayor- definitely two kids you don’t want to fuck around with, not even the Three. Plus, Krista’s angelic face and Ymir’s intimidating glares helped a bunch.  
“It’s, not really something I like to show off-”  
“Show off what?” Oh great, he was starting to wonder when she would show up.  
“Nothing Kas.” Eren sighed, irritation starting to show. Can’t he just eat his sandwich in peace?  
“He got the Three out of detention by forging a note from Zackely… can I have your chips?” Sasha blurted out before reaching over to grab at the chips. Eren was too slow to stop her, but he barely noticed with the glare his sister was giving him.  
“What note?” the warning in her voice made Eren shrink back a little, Mikasa never approved of his ‘forging’ abilities which was part of the reason he didn’t do it so much, even though up until now it never hurt anyone.  
“I just needed some good mojo on my side okay? Can you all chill so I can eat my fucking lunch?” by this point his temper was reaching its point of no return but no one seemed to notice nor care. That was the last time he did a good deed for the-  
“You heard him nerds, get lost.” Jesus fuck him with a chainsaw now. Everyone except for Mikasa’s eyes widened as they turned around to see none other than the Three themselves standing behind Eren and Armin. It may have been Eren’s imagination, but he was certain the Three’s shadows cast over the entire group sat down in some cinematic fashion. Or that may have been just his view from where he was sat. Either way, he was frozen in place wondering what the hell they were doing in this part of the cafeteria.  
“Jeager, right?” Bertholdt asked, sporting a dark green cardigan and smart black tie as he looked down at him. Eren nodded.  
“Yeah… what do you want?”  
“Come sit with us.” Annie spoke plainly, motioning backwards with her head. Eren couldn’t help his jaw from dropping; the Three want him to actually _sit_ with them?  
“He’s already sat down.” Mikasa retorted coldly, glaring at Annie sharply. Annie simply stared back, almost bored looking as Reiner laughed.  
“So what? We only need him for a moment.” at this Eren furrowed his brows as his survival instincts raged against going with them, but before he could protest the well-built blond gently grabbed his arm and hoisted him up. “You shits can have him back later!” Reiner called back as he dragged Eren away, Armin grabbing on to Mikasa's arm to keep her from going after them. Everyone else's faces resembled guppies at feeding time.  
“Hey wait-!” but Eren’s voice fell on depth ears as he was half pulled half carried all the way over to the other side of the cafeteria as students of all cliques cleared a path for the Three. He frowned at seeing some of their faces as they looked their way, some with awe and most others with pity. That is, except for one pair of eyes from a secluded corner of the room that watched the group with a disinterested glare before going back to reading some novel in his hands.  
He, wasn’t anyone Eren had seen before. A small town like this, everyone at least had a general idea of the faces that walked this hall, but not this stranger. And Eren would most _definitely_ remember a face like his. Hair a midnight black that lay against skin so pale it was almost see through, and yet the contrast was appealing in some form. Eren noticed that his hair was cut in the style of an old-fashioned military undercut, yet it worked for him somehow... His attire matched the color of his hair, complete with a dark trench coat that accentuated his shoulders nicely. Not a pound of flesh was wasted on him. But nothing compared to when the stranger looked up, as if sensing he was being stared at, and met Eren’s gaze on and Eren felt his heart freeze in his chest.  
Those eyes, made of liquid silver tinged with pale blue ice, pierced right through his soul and left him feeling incredibly small in his shoes. His expression seemed to be default irritated, with a set frown and thin brows that completed his sharp expression. The rest of his face was chiseled to perfection, with clear cheekbones and a straight nose, but Eren could only find himself being drawn into this strangers dangerous gaze. Dangerous, yet so beautiful…  
“-ren. Eren. EREN!” The sudden shout of his name made him whip his head around to face Reiner, who along with Bertholdt and Annie had sat down at ‘their’ table and were waiting him to sit. One quick glance back at the stranger saw him back to reading his book as if nothing happened, so Eren slowly sat down to face the Three for whatever they wanted.  
“Sorry... What do you want?” he asked, glancing at all three. For some odd reason, they liked to dress in similar color schemes each day, Reiner in reds and, Bertholdt and greens and Annie, strangely, in yellows. Did they do that on purpose to set them up further from the rest of the student body, or did they just get unlucky shopping most of the time?  
“You did us a huge thing back there Jeager, we want to thank you properly.” Bertholdt said with a too-bright smile.  
“It, was nothing really…” Eren raised a brow, wondering what the hell he was smiling about.  
“It wasn’t nothing, and no good deed goes unrewarded you know.” Eren looked at Reiner curiously, ‘rewarded?’ He didn’t mean give _him _a reward, did he? Eren wasn’t sure how to feel about that.__  
“What do you mean?”  
“We mean, we want to make you part of our circle Eren.” The statement hung in the air for a few moments before registering in Eren's brain.  
**_WHAT?!_**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guys spot the Levi? x3 Let me know what you guys think in the comments below! Posting will be highly irregular but reviews, kudos, and comments help to spur me on!


	3. Top Dogs

This had to be a dream. This had to be some crazy ass dream from eating all of his greens last night at dinner. See mom, this is why greens are not that good for you. They make you dream that the most popular kids in school have not only taken a liking to you, but dragged you into a fancy red convertible owned by Reiner and drove you to the nearest mall for what they decided was a much needed makeover. Eren could only barely remember being dragged from expensive store to expensive store, clothes he know he couldn’t afford being shoved into his arms before himself being shoved into a changing room more times than he could count.  
By the time they were done, Eren had two bags full of clothing all paid for by Reiner on his credit card- surprisingly, they were mostly in dark blue shades. Annie said it was because it brought out his eyes best. Okay then… They went to Annie’s house next where Annie tried (and failed) to tame his messy hair but eventually they found that it suited Eren when he let his eyes show at least. Needless to say, the boy Eren saw staring back at him in the mirror in Annie’s room looked nothing like the dorky son of a surgeon he woke up this morning as.  
The dark blue blazer on top of a paler blue t-shirt stood out sharply against his tan skin, and they were right, his eyes glimmered as the emerald tones were offset by the colors. Weren’t they supposed to clash? Oh well. The dark grey jeans and dark shoes completed the semi-casual attire, and despite his reservations about this whole idea he found that he looked… rather nice. He could, maybe, get used to this…  
“Not bad huh? Who thought this little cutie existed under the dork?” Bertholdt chuckled.  
“Now I can bear to have your stupid face at the party this Saturday.” that snapped Eren out of his stunned expression as he turned to look at Reiner. _What party?_  
“Party?”  
“Yeah, Jean’s parents are going to be out of town and anyone who matters is going to be there. That includes you.” A party? Eren had never been to a party before, but he heard plenty of what goes on at these ‘popular people’ parties. Sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll to say the very least, well more of just the sex and drugs mixed with stolen alcohol. None of which sounded all that appealing to Eren and it showed on his face.  
“Look, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do but this shit just isn’t my thing. Besides I promised Armin-”  
“What, Gay-lert?” Bert sneered, causing Eren to reflexively snarl at him. That horrid nickname sprouted it’s ugly head around the time they entered middle school and it served as a trigger to Eren’s temper. Well, one of many. So what if Armin was gay? They had no business treating it like a slur of his existence!  
“Eren please, if that coconut head had your chance he wouldn’t think twice about this.” Reiner chuckled, placing a hand on his shoulder. Eren threw it off and stood back from the three of them.  
“That’s bullshit and you know it.”  
“Is it?” Annie piped up, looking at him intently. “When you were kids it might have been true, but it’s grown-up time now Eren. If he had this chance to be one of us, to be able to look Jean in the eye and not worry about getting beat up, would he not take it?” Eren blinked owlishly at Annie, knowing full well how hard Armin was crushing on Jean but confident that Armin would never betray his friends like that. Besides, that was the most he’s heard Annie speak at one time in her monotone fashion.   
“Oh yeah, I forgot! Didn’t Jean kiss him back in kindergarten or something?” Bertholdt asked, a small smile forming on his face.  
“Yeah, it was truth or dare and the horsey was too dumb to chicken.” Reiner snickered, surprising Eren. Not even the people that were already ‘part of their circle’ would be safe from these guys’ scorn.   
“The point is Jeager, starting tomorrow things for you are going to change. Sacrifices are going to have be made if you want your life to change. So, what’s it going to be?” This was all moving so fast for Eren; just earlier he was just a literal nobody to them, and now he was their new pet project which honestly made him feel queasy inside. This was the exact sort of thing he wanted to avoid his last year of school, and yet-   
This offered a rare opportunity, a chance to maybe change things around Trost high for the **better**. The realization hit Eren that now, he had a modem of _power_ over the hierarchy of his school, that he can actually _do something_ for a change instead of just sitting around watching horrible things happen to good kids. In order to do that however, he needed to keep the Three’s trust. At the moment, they held his status in the palm of their hands and could easily throw him back down again. Not going to happen. With a flare of determination gleaming in his eyes, Eren met their gazes head on and nodded.  
“Alright, I’m in.” Reiner and Bertholdt smiled approvingly while Annie simply nodded in acknowledgement, her expression unreadable.   
“That’s what we want to hear. Say Annie, want one for the album?” Bertholdt asked, walking over to his school bag while Annie nodded and wandered over to her desk.  
“Album? What album?” Eren asked. Annie returned carrying a large, mint green photo album that had a picture of herself, Reiner and Bertholdt on the front.  
“It’s my memory album, Bert gave it to me freshman year and I’ve had it ever since. Still have a lot of space though…”  
“That’s because you barely take any pictures An!”  
“You’re the photographer Bert.” Right, Eren had forgotten for a moment that Bert was the head of the yearbook committee. It was actually, pretty cool now that he thought about it.  
“Can I see?” he asked Annie, motioning towards her album. Annie looked surprised for a moment before a small smile appeared on her face and she handed him the large book. Eren flipped open the cover and leafed through the pages of photographs depicting Annie’s high school life. He was surprised at how… few of them there were, and in almost none of the photographs with Annie in them showed her smiling, except for one. Annie was not dressed in yellow, rather she wore an oversized hoodie and had her hair tied back in a messy high bun while she stood next to a tree. It located on a page on it’s one with the year ‘1985’ written next it. No other comment was made.  
“My dad took that picture. It was the last one he took of me before… before he left.” Eren jumped to see Annie standing next to him, looking down at the photo with a grim expression on her face. Reiner and Bert were in another corner talking about the party on Saturday, so it was just him and her at the moment. Eren felt a pang of sympathy for the girl and offered her a genuine smile.  
“You miss him a lot?” he asked, closing the album and handing it back to her. She looked at him for a moment, staring at him intently for a moment before nodding slightly.  
“I do. I try not to since, looking back, he was a dick. But, it still hurts… sometimes.”  
“I can only imagine…” Eren looked down, feeling a tad guilty once more for thinking that he thought his own dad was a dick for being a workaholic when there were obviously bigger assholes out there.   
“Thanks.”   
“For what?”  
“For not saying you’re ‘sorry’ about it.” That caught Eren off guard and he offered an awkward smile towards the blonde.  
“No problem?”  
“Hey lovebirds,” Bert’s voice cut through them, “if you’re done I’d like to get home tonight if that’s alright with you. You coming Eren?” Eren blushed at the lovebirds comment while Annie looked down at the floor before nodding, grabbing his school back and waving a goodbye to the girl as he followed the other two out of her room. She gave him a small smile back and waved.  
“See you tomorrow.”

 

Tomorrow just proved to be even stranger than yesterday. His parents were confused when he came home in an entirely new outfit with bags full of clothes, not to mention being dropped off in a sporty red convertible. Carla was happy that he was apparently making new friends while Grisha seemed more confused, but they didn’t say anything else on the matter. Mikasa on the other hand grilled him with question after question, what did the Three do to him, what did they say, etc. etc. She didn’t seem to believe him but eventually let the subject drop. That is, until they arrived at school the next morning.  
The moment they passed through the double doors, the Three practically swooped in and carted Eren off to the awe of every student in the halls. It was unprecedented that the Three would take such interest in a total nobody and suddenly turn them into a popular somebody. Seriously, Eren met with a bunch of students that, two days ago, he would not have even dreamed of speaking to much less exchanging numbers with. People actually went _out of their ways_ to speak to him about advice and gossip, stuff he knew little to nothing about but still tried his best to smile through it all. Reiner told him that a smile sells it every time. Vice principal Smith regarded the four of them curiously whenever he would catch them conversing together in the halls between classes, Eren could only smile and shrug at him. He had no clue how this happened either.  
Lunch turned out to be a dramatic affair. Eren had subtly looked around for that new student he saw yesterday and found him in the exact same corner this time with a different novel in his hands. Looked it was written by a, Baudelaire person? He didn’t even have time to dwell on it further before he found his ass planted at the ‘cool table...’ unfortunately, next to Jean Kirstein.  
“Um. What’s the Disney Princess doing here?” he asked, looking at the Three as if they each sprouted new limbs from random points of their bodies. Eren managed to bite back the ‘Black not-so Beauty’ retort he had but sent him a nasty side eye.  
“Eren here,” Reiner clapped his shoulders, “is our new little project! Cleans up real nice don’t you think?” Eren blushed a little at Reiners words but avoided looking at the horse while he ate his lunch. Before Jean could answer a meek voice popped up behind them causing Eren to cringe internally: this was what he was trying to avoid all day.  
“Hey Eren! Um, hey Jean…” Armin stood, smiling shyly at the group.   
“Hey Ar! What’s up?” Eren put on a slightly forced smile while silently telling Armin to fucking walk away before-  
“What do you want coconut?” too late.  
“Oh, um, I just… wanted to say hello. Bye.” the blond haired boy ducked his head and quickly ran back to his table where Mikasa sat glaring at them. Eren sent her an apologetic look while Jean sighed.  
“Damn kid, when he stop behaving like it’s kindergarten?”  
“He doesn’t get grades like one, you’re just bitter because he scored better in Shadis’s class than you did.” Eren piped up in defence of his friend. Reiner frowned at this exchange before a sly smile crept on his face.  
“Say Eren, why don’t you show everyone your little party trick?”  
“What, now? What would I even write?” Eren asked, raising a brow at the seemingly random question.   
“Wait, what are you guys on about?” Marco asked.  
“Eren can forge anyone’s handwriting.” Annie replied simply. Jean raised a brow incredulously, almost reluctantly impressed at the notion.  
“No kidding… write something in my handwriting then!” he quickly dug into his letterman pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of paper and pencil, slamming it down in front of Eren. He sighed, feeling a slight headache coming on.  
“Fine, but again what am I supposed to write?”  
“Bet you can’t make Kirstein out to be some romantic can you?” Bertholdt jeered, sharing a look between him and Reiner. Eren let out a snort.  
“Please, that’s barely a challenge. Alright, just so I can eat my lunch I’ll do it.” Eren picked up the pencil and without much effort, wrote the sappiest love note in Jean’s writing that he could possibly think of. He honestly couldn’t tell you how many romantic cliches he crammed into that thing. A couple minutes later, he set down the pencil and slid it over to Jean. “What do you think?” Jean took one look at it before his eyes widened considerably, Eren was certain his eyes would fall right out of his skull.  
“Holy shit Jeager! This is fucking magic!” he exclaimed, showing the note to Marco before passing it around to the others. Reiner managed to snatch it from Bert before looking back at where Armin was sat with Mikasa.  
“Say… I think coconut should get a love note from his sweetheart sometime don’t you all think?” nearly everyone except for Eren and Jean laughed in agreement.  
“What the fuck? You can’t give that to him!” Eren shouted, feeling panic rise in his chest. If Armin recieved that note then found out that he wrote it-!  
“Why the fuck not Jeager? It’s just a little prank.” Reiner snorted, already looking for some poor schmuck to rope into delivering the letter when Eren practically ripped it out of his grasp.  
“I said, no.” he growled, eyes flashing with anger. The entire table went completely silent as they stared at Eren with wide eyes, no one told Reiner no.   
“Oh really Jeager? Is that how it’s going to be?” he questioned warningly before standing up over him and motioning to Jean and Marco with a nod. Eren felt two pairs of arms grab his before he was practically dragged out of his seat across the cafeteria to a quiet corner. The green eyed boy found himself caged by the football players with Reiner glaring down at him about to tear him a new one.  
“I didn’t think we were going to have a problem after yesterday, Eren. You’re on your way to being a top dog here, and you’d just throw it away for some faggot?” Reiner grabbed the note from Eren’s fist, magically not ripping it as he sighed. “Then again, fags tend to stick together don’t they? Don’t try to deny it Eren, I was there that day. There the day you kissed Thomas back in middle school.” Eren could feel his heart freeze in his chest the moment he heard Thomas’s name. Thomas was a boy he had a crush on for two years, the two of them had been good friends until his parent announced they were moving away. Eren had asked to kiss him just once before he left, and Thomas let him. That was nearly five years ago-!  
“So what?” he tried to pass off as nonchalant but the red in his ears gave every emotion away. Reiner grabbed his chin and leaned in real close, making Eren squirm a bit at the proximity.  
“So, all I have to do is let one word slip about how you tried to jump me in the boys locker room and you’ll be hunted down like a rabbit. All you have to do is keep slight about this,” he held up the note, “and nothing will happen. Blondie will get his heart broken, you guys stay friends and you stay at the top. No harm done.” Eren wanted to punch his lights out right then and there, but he knew damn well that Reiner would make very well do on his threat if he tried. Homos didn’t survive in Trost unless you had power to protect you, like Ymir and Christa. He was about to give his answer when a pale hand grabbed Reiner’s wrist and yanked it away from Eren’s face.  
“Don’t you know a thing about personal space shitstain? Breathing the same air is fucking gross.” Eren’s eyes widened at the voice, it was sharp and velvety, laced with a darkened baritone that the boy had never heard of before. It sent shivers all the way down his spine as his gaze slowly turned to see who had come to his rescue. The moment he saw the person's face, he felt his heart once again leap into his throat.  
It was the mysterious new kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN cliffhanger. I bet you guys can guess who it is no? Finally, everyone's favorite grumpy pants makes an appearance. Also, Annie isn't going to be so much of a bad guy while Marco is... awkward switch I know but IT'S FOR THE STORY!


	4. Fight

“What the fuck did you just say to me midget?” Reiner’s low growl snapped Eren out of his stunned state and noticed that yes, the new kid was more on the short side standing at least ten centimeters shorter than himself. He almost didn’t notice with how oppressive the stranger’s aura felt, as if he just oozed power and control. The stranger’s eyes narrowed slightly at the taller blond and Eren was certain he felt the room grow a few degrees colder just now. Guess what they said about short people was true, they're made of pure evil from being closer to Hell. Which is where this was going real fast by Eren's reckoning.   
“He asked you a question, faggot!” Jean piped up, oh right, those two were still here.  
“And I’m choosing not to answer it, Sea Biscuit. Freedom of speech and all that shit.” the stranger sent a glance towards Jean which caused the boy to stiffen. Eren couldn’t help but let out a little snort which caught the stranger’s attention, raising a brow at the green eyed boy.  
“Something funny brat?” Eren’s eyes snapped up to meet that lethal gaze and found that his throat suddenly ran dry.  
“N-No, well, just glad someone else can… spot a horse.” he managed to force out, the stranger’s brow quirking up slightly as something like amusement flashed in those blue-grey eyes while the rest of his expression remained frighteningly neutral. It was kind of scary how he managed that, Eren thought with a small gulp.  
“Hey, didn’t you hear us before? We have a ‘no faggots’ rule here so beat it!” the stranger’s gaze snapped back to Jean before a hint of a smirk twitched at his lips. Nope, that smirk was infinetly scarier so why the Hell did it make him feel _excited?_  
“And yet they seem to have an open door policy for assholes.” Jean and Marco looked at each other before dropping Eren’s arms to approach the stranger while Reiner grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back from the oncoming bloodbath that was about to stain the cafeteria floors. Eren never even got to learn the guy’s name…   
“Look like it’s going to be Emo Faggot for lunch today, Bott.” Jean snickered, cracking his knuckles. Voices around them hushed as people moved as far away from the trio as possible, while Eren closed his eyes waiting for the first punch to make contact with that beautiful pale face-  
It never came.   
There was an impact, and a collective gasp of horror from the growing crowd, but the groan was one Eren recognized belonging to Jean. Opening his eyes, his heart leapt into his throat when he saw Jean laying on the ground clutching his arm in pain, while the stranger looked over at a horrified Marco with a disinterested look on his face. Holy shit. What, the actual loving fuck just happened?   
“Well don’t just stand there Bott, fuck him up!” Jean yelled from the ground, spurring the dark haired teen to charge at the shorter stranger. This time Eren kept his eyes peeled on every movement, enthralled with how the guy didn’t even move to dodge Marco’s punch until the last possible moment. Time slowed as the stranger's trench coat flew out behind him as he practically spun out of harm’s way, his leg coming up to connect with Marco’s back and sending him flying into a group of student onlookers. To Eren, the fluid way this kid fought- just, damn. The stranger’s eyes barely showed any emotion, as if fighting off Bott and Kirstein was a bother rather than a necessity to stay in one piece. How they fuck can he stay so calm?!   
Jean managed to get up and actually tried to grab his arms from behind, emphasis on the word try. The stranger moved his arm out of the last minute and elbowed Jean deep in the gut, Eren winced at the sight of the impact but his eyes remained trained on the stranger as he turned around slowly and grabbed the hurting Jean by his shoulders tightly. Eren had a good feeling what was going to happen, and had he a shred of sympathy to spare at the moment he would have felt sorry for Jean, but all his attention was turned towards the stranger who looked up from his target to- to- look at him? Silver met emerald as the stranger regarded him intently, causing Eren to blush slightly while he gathered up the courage to send him a small smile. Surprisingly, the boy’s lips twitched upwards in return as an amused glint shined in his sharp gaze before he quickly leaned his head back and smashed it into Jean’s forehead. Everyone gasped as the football player crumpled to the ground. The stranger didn’t even blink an eye at the impact.  
Holy. Shit.  
In that moment, the world melted around Eren into a blurry mess in the background until all he could see was the stranger straighten out his coat before pulling out a bottle of- was that hand sanitizer? The stranger tsked, pouring a small substance on to his hands before rubbing it in quickly. Okay, so the incredibly scary yet incredibly beautiful stranger was a germ freak. Okay. Eren had to give him credit, who knew when footballers bathed?   
Eren looked down to see that no one was grabbing his shoulder, where did Reiner go? Who cared. Looking back up, his breath caught in his throat when he saw the guy looking right at him and, was he getting bigger? Nope, he was walking. Walking towards him in point of fact.  
“Hey kid, you alright? You look like you’re about to shit yourself.” Eren was honestly speechless at the blunt question, mouth opening and closing as he tried to find words to say. English, how does one do that again? “What are you, a guppy at feeding time?” the guy raised an eyebrow at Eren before sighing, starting to turn to walk away when Eren’s body moved on it’s own. He didn’t even realize that he had grabbed the guy’s arm until he stopped and turned around suddenly, eyes narrowed slightly.   
“Y-You’re- That was amazing! You fight real good!” Nice Eren, way to sound like an obsessed fangirl who can’t use proper grammar.   
“They’re pigs. Can you let go of me now?” Oh yeah that’s right, he’s still kinda grabbing on to his arm. Eren let go and smiled sheepishly.  
“Sorry. I’m Eren, by the way. What’s your name?”  
“What’s it to you?”   
“Oh well, I mean… you’re new here-”  
“No shit.”  
“I wasn’t finished! And, you did just kinda save my ass back there.” Eren wanted to just die right now, this was so not going well. The other boy just sort of stared at him for an intense moment, silver boring into him before turning around, hands in his pockets as he walked away.  
“It’s Levi, ‘case you’re wondering Bright Eyes. Don’t expect this to be a regular thing.” Eren couldn’t even form words as he watched the guy, Levi, walk away. A breath he didn’t even realize he had been holding left him suddenly, leaving him slightly lightheaded when someone approached him from behind.  
“Mr. Jeager, can I have a moment?” Eren whipped around to face Mr. Smith, the tall blond man making him feel incredibly small with the intensity of his eyes despite his soft expression.  
“Uhh, yeah? Sure.” Eren replied.  
“Can you explain what just happened a few minutes ago?” Shit, Eren had been so enamoured at watching Levi fight off the bastards he all but forgot that fighting was kind of a big no-no in school policy.   
“Just… damn footballers roughhousing, nothing unusual.” he said quickly, blushing lightly up to his ears. He knew that lie sounded shitty, even he knew that. Mr. Smith raised one of his rather impressive eyebrows at the answer and hummed thoughtfully.   
“Nothing unusual. One of the other students said they saw Mr. Ackerman in the middle of it. Is that true?” Ackerman, like Mikasa’s family? That was… too strange of a coincidence.   
“You mean Levi, right sir? He didn’t throw any punches sir.” technically not a lie, seeing as Levi had handled them without once throwing a fist.   
“Even so, he should know better. I’m letting him off with a warning since it’s his first week but if you see him again let him know he won’t get off so easy.” Eren nodded, even though he sincerely doubted that he would see Levi again, or at least talk to him since he royally fucked up his chance of making a good first impression.   
“Yes sir, I will.”  
“Good. Your sister is looking for you by the way.” Mr. Smith nodded behind him and as Eren turned around, speak of the devil there was Mikasa.  
“Eren! Are you okay? You disappeared after the fight!”  
“Take care Mr. Jeager.” Mr. Smith said before walking away while Mikasa inspected his person for any injuries.  
“I’m fine Kas, I was away from the carnage don’t worry! Actually, I needed to ask you something.” Since she was here…  
“Go on?” her head tilted, brows furrowed slightly.  
“Do you, remember anyone named Levi in your family?” Mikasa’s eyes widened slightly, it was rare that anyone asked her about her family after the accident, not much was known about them beforehand other than a few bad eggs scattered here and there.  
“I- I don’t. Why?” her eyes narrowed suspiciously while Eren blushed a little.  
“Just, the kid who fought off Jean and Marco. He has the same last name as you and I was just wondering if, you know, there was a connection.”  
“There are more than one families with the name Ackerman you know Eren.”  
“Yes I know that! Just, thought I’d ask.” he shrugged while Mikasa frowned thoughtfully.  
“Levi…” she mused before a voice interrupted them.  
“Guys!” both teens turned around as Armin ran up to them, a bright look on his face.  
“What is it Ar?” Eren asked, wondering what’s got Armin so… happy looking.   
“You’ll never believe what I got!” he said holding up a piece of paper. The moment Eren’s eyes fell on the paper his stomach lurched, ice settling in the depths of his soul. Oh no. No no no no no no-! Mikasa took the paper from Armin, quickly looking over what was written on it and frowning.  
“That has got to be a fake.” she stated. Thank you Mikasa.  
“It’s his writing isn’t it? Besides, there’s only one sure way to prove it- I’m going to his party on Saturday.” Armin no!   
“Armin! Y-You can’t confront him at his house in front of everyone, what if it’s fake?” Eren cursed at himself, why couldn’t he just tell Armin that he wrote the note and the Three were using it as a sick joke? Armin pondered this for a moment but shook his head.  
“I- I have to take a chance Eren, I’m tired of being scared all the time. The worse he can say is ‘no’ right?” Maybe if he’s lucky, Eren thought. The Three though… if they were there, Armin wouldn’t survive until graduation when they get their way. Eren’s heart was full of lead, all he had to do was tell him the truth and no one would get hurt. But the look in Armin’s face, so full of determination and hope…   
“I guess…”  
“I still think it’s a fake. I’ll go with you.” Mikasa stated, handing the note back to Armin.  
“No way-”  
“Actually that’s a good idea. I’ll be there too,” as the Three’s personal little prodigy he neglected to mention, ”for moral support.” Mikasa looked at him with mild surprise but nodded in agreement. Armin looked like he wanted to protest but eventually conceded, lifting the weight off of Eren’s conscience just a little. However, out of the corner of his eye he spotted Reiner at a distance with Annie and Bert, smiling at them with a malicious gleam in his eye.  
This… was not going to end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Eren... sorry for the slow update lovelies! I hope the fight was satisfactory, I can't write this stuff out for shit x'3


	5. Princess

_Dear Diary,_  
 _With everything that’s been going on, I kinda forgot to write in this thing. I gave you the lowdown yesterday with the fight in the cafeteria and… meeting Levi. I didn’t see him in school today which was, kinda disappointing. I was really hoping for another chance to talk to him seeing as I made an absolute idiot of myself last time, at least I’m sure I did. He certainly treated me like I was an absolute idiot. But, I don’t think he actually meant it? Ugh, he’s so confusing and I only talked to him once! And I can’t get his damn face out of my head! Not that I want to, I mean he has a fucking gorgeous face and this, this intensity about him that more than makes up for the fact that he’s shorter than me._   
_Holy shit, is this what having a legit crush feels like? I mean, I knew I was gay for a long time but not even my thing with Thomas felt like this. I feel like my heart is getting squeezed inside my chest every time I think about him and it’s difficult to breathe but I like it? Crap, maybe I’m some sort of masochist like everyone says I am after all. What’s worse, I had a dream about him. It’s kinda murky but, I remember his eyes. I don’t think I can ever forget those eyes of his, dream or not. In the dream they had me pinned into place, against a wall or something and the way they looked at me was, well, like how he looked at Jean before he fucking gave him a concussion. I felt hunted, stalked, a deer caught in a hunter’s scope._  
 _And I fucking loved it…_  
 _Yup, I am most definitely a masochist with a crush. But, thinking logically, I honestly don’t think he likes me all that much. Or, people in general. Not that I blame him per se, people, especially people at Trost, are the literal worst._  
 _Case and point being all of today in school. Reiner had the balls to act like my best friend all day as if he didn’t threaten to throw me to the literal wolves yesterday at lunch. Bert is just as bad, if not worse than him. That overgrown beanpole has this inflated sense of himself that I think even Reiner is wary of. I passed the boys restroom on my way to Hannes’ class and I heard the sound of retching. Me being the nice guy that I am, I went in to check to see if whoever was in there was okay. I was surprised when Bert walked out of the stall wiping his face off, but he looked… fine? He looked at me as if I just caught him jerking off, something tells me that he being ‘sick’ is something else entirely. Of course, he threatened my closeted status as well to get me to be silent but I’m not that scared of him if I’m honest. He honestly has the balls to stick a finger down his throat while being at the top of the ladder and he gets to tell me what to do? I’ve seen kids with disorders and no one looks that smug about throwing up their lunches like he does. Then again I could be wrong and he’s actually struggling, but he makes it hard to garner sympathy. I may just leave an anonymous note in Hanji’s office and have them deal with it. At least then my conscience will be clear._   
_I am a bit concerned about Annie to a certain degree. Yeah, she behaves like a drone but, she’s super intelligent, like on Mikasa’s level intelligent, I don’t understand why she hangs out with the other two. Maybe they have something on her like they do with me? Of course, the Three have been together since kindergarten so who knows._   
_Anyways, I’m sat by the 7 Eleven writing this stupid entry because it’s the only time I get to be fucking alone now! Seriously, the Three dragged me everywhere again and my friends, my real friends, could barely even look at me. Mikasa is barely even talking to me at home, she just gives me these one word responses and looks at me as if I let her down on a constant basis. That’s what making me sick the most. And Armin… fuck, I don’t I just tell him the truth-?_

“Yeah, why don’t you brat?”   
Eren would deny later that he screamed as he jumped up from his seat, his journal flying from his hand to be haphazardly caught in a wild fumble to compose himself. Heart racing a mile a minute, Eren recognized Levi standing behind him with a mildly amused expression and a, hot drink of some sort? He wondered why he carried it around the rim with the tips of his fingers but, there was the matter of the almost heart attack he just gave him to deal with.  
“Jesus fucking Christ where the hell did you come from?!”   
“Behind you. I asked you a question first brat.” Eren pouted at the answer and the nickname, what a smart ass.  
“We’re in the same grade, stop calling me brat.”  
“How old are you?”  
“17-”  
“I’m 18, which makes me an adult and you, a still brat. So answer your elder, _brat_. Eren felt his face heat up as his pout deepened, that was a one year difference. "By the way, you have a lovely scream."   
“I did not scream! Why were you reading what I was writing anyways? Journals are private shit you know!” he protested. Levi simply shrugged while Eren was internally screaming with his mortification, if Levi was reading his writing then how much did he read?! The thought of Levi finding out about his little not-crush made Eren want to crawl into the nearest hole and die, leaving his bones to rot and turn to dust where no one would find him. Levi would probably be _disgusted_ knowing some homo was crushing on him big time... unless, he swung that way? No, there was no way Eren was that lucky-  
“I just happened to see you sitting there, writing like the world was going to end happened to read the last bit. Not that your writing is actually legible. Relax, I didn’t 'sneak up on you' to see what you write about your life so quit looking like someone killed your dog.” a sigh of relief exited Eren’s mouth before he managed a half-smile, which probably looked more like a grimace.  
“Do all of your jokes have to be so morbid?” Levi’s eyebrow raised slightly at the question.  
“Do you have a problem with that?”  
“No,” Eren shook his head before chuckling, “it’s just… weird is all.”  
“Well I enjoy it so either deal with it or shut up. Besides, you’re avoiding the question still.” Oh right… Eren’s smile fell as he closed his journal, looking down at a spot in the sidewalk.  
“It’s… complicated. He wasn’t supposed to get that note but, it just got out of control.”  
“So what’s the problem? Just fess up and tell him what happened. If he’s your friend he won’t mind.” Levi took a sip of his drink before moving to sit on the bench Eren had been sat previously, motioning for Eren to join him. The brunet did so nervously, making sure to sit so that he wasn’t too close to Levi. Said person glanced over at him with a raised brow.   
“You look like I’m about to beat the shit out of you brat, do you hate me or something?” Now that caught Eren off guard, did his behavior come off that way? He looked at Levi with wide eyes and a slight pink tinge to his face while shaking his head furiously.  
“NO! Ah, I mean, of course not! You saved my ass, and I’ll always be grateful for that….” he trailed off, embarrassed by his outburst while Levi gave a short chuckle.   
“Alright then,” he took a sip of his tea, “so how did you get involved with those dickwads anyhow? Your other friends seemed to like you well enough without them.”   
“Honestly- it all happened so fast I have no idea how I got into this mess. All I did was one good deed and now I’m their little… **pet**.” Eren spat the last word out with such venom that Levi’s eyes narrowed with some inexplicable emotion before humming thoughtfully.  
“No good deed goes unpunished brat. If you hate them so much, why don’t you tell them to fuck off and be done with them? It's your last year in this shit hole, don't waste it on them.” On any other occasion Eren would have agreed with him, but-  
“Because- Because I want to make a difference before I graduate! People actually listen to what I have to say now. This school, no, this whole fucking town is just sick. Everyone piling over each other to get to the top, they don’t care who they throw to the bottom in order to get what they want and I fucking hate it. If there's even one thing I can do to make sure no one else has to suffer, I'll do whatever it takes!” the more he spoke, the more he felt his anger grow inside him, the grip on his journal so tight that his knuckles started to grow white. Levi listened to him speak, no trace of emotion betraying his inner thoughts as he regarded the boy next to him. Eren was startled when the other gave a soft chuckle in response; it’s official, that deep voice needed to be made illegal with how badly it made Eren shiver.  
“What ever it takes huh? Sounds like a stupid way of going about it, but hey, who am I to judge your ingenious planning? Good luck with it falling apart on Saturday brat.” so he knew about the party? Anyways, time to change the subject.  
“Why’d you save me anyway?” Eren asked, easing his posture as he relaxed against the bench.   
“Who said I was doing it to save you? Maybe I just bored to shit and wanted to show those pretentious shits a thing or two.” Levi grunted, sipping his drink again.  
“I don’t think so, no offense but you look like a guy trouble wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.” Eren chuckled, earning a glare from Levi.  
“And you look like a guy trouble tends to fuck over every chance it gets.”  
“You… wouldn’t be wrong,” Eren chuckled before he noticed something peeking out from underneath Levi’s right sleeve, the unmistakable dark pigment of ink, “did your parents actually let you get a tattoo?” Levi had been mid sip when Eren spoke, freezing with the lip of the cup resting against his thin lips as his eyes darkened.  
“Don’t have any brat.” he replied curtly after a moment.  
“What, tattoos or-?”  
“Parents dipshit.” Eren flinched at the sudden sharpness in Levi’s tone, mentally kicking himself.  
“Ah, shit, sorry I didn’t know.” Levi didn’t say anything for a moment before sighing.  
“Relax, and don’t apologize. Never knew my dad, mom died when I was nine and I’ve been living with my shit uncle ever since. I’ll cope.” Levi set his drink down to pull his sleeve down to reveal his ink, a peculiar set of wings marked into the skin of his wrist. “Got this when I was sixteen, mom was an artist and this was her signature. The ‘Wings of Freedom’ or some shit like that. Can't really remember too well, but they're all I got of hers.” Eren stared at the tattoo with abject fascination, a small smile appearing at the sentimental admission.  
“It’s beautiful… I mean, it really suits you.” Apparently this was ‘Eren will make a fool of himself at every step of the way’ day, but at least this time he got Levi to crack a somewhat larger smile- well, smirk.  
“You’re a natural.” he stated, finishing off his drink and throwing the cup into the trash can with a well aimed throw. Eren blinked at him in confusion, head tilted slightly.  
“A… natural?” he asked as Levi started to stand up. The raven turned back to look at him with a sly look, shaking his head slightly.  
“Typical. So Eren,” he turned to face him with his hands in his pockets, “seeing as I’m new here I think someone ought to show me around this place. Rude of you to not offer you know.” Eren started and shot up out of his seat, sweating nervously.  
“I can show you! I mean, I really want to- if, you don’t mind…” he trailed off, voice failing as Levi’s smirk only grew wider before the shorter man approached him slowly. Eren watched with a growing heart rate as the other grabbed his hand as if to shake it, though turning it to that the back of his hand was facing towards Levi’s lips. Just as Eren thought that he was going to kiss the back of his hand (not that he was wishing it or anything of course not!), Levi replied in a low voice.  
“It would be my pleasure, Princess.” the way his voice traveled over Eren’s skin sent a jolt of electricity down the younger boy’s spine, causing him to freeze in place while Levi let go of his hand and started to walk off. He imagined the emphasis Levi put on the word ‘pleasure,’ right? Realizing that Levi was no longer holding his hand, Eren shook himself and called after him with a heated blush painting his face.  
“W-Wait! When can I see you again?” Levi merely looked over his shoulder as he continued walking.  
“Here, tomorrow, same time. Don’t be late brat.” with that, he walked away, the growing darkness of the evening swallowing him up as if welcoming a part of it back to the shadows. Eren released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, head and heart racing as they both came to the same undeniable fact.  
In the course of a few short interactions, Eren had it bad. Real bad. Then, in his befuddled state, he realized something too late.  
“I’m not a princess!!” Too bad Eren was too far away to know Levi had heard him. And laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Eren, you got it sooooo bad. Also hello friends! So, so sorry for dropping of the grid like that, things on my end are going absolutely crazy so updates are going to be slow Dx but stay with me friends! Also, high key thinking of making the next chapter Levi POV, what do you think? Let me know! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my lovelies! Welcome to my first ever work on this wonderful website. I am obsessed with the Heathers musical as is much of the Internet, having grown up watching the film (Winona forever), and with AoT back in full swing I thought, why not, let's smash them together and see what we get! Note this is a RE-TELLING of the Heathers story as I will be keeping the characters as accurate as possible while trying to get the important elements in so if you're expecting an exact copy you're in the wrong place. Let's see how many references I can cram into this work! Enjoy!


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